


On the Edge

by ticklishraspberries



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:13:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29853759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ticklishraspberries/pseuds/ticklishraspberries
Summary: Ari is on edge; Dante is the reason.
Relationships: Aristotle Mendoza/Dante Quintana
Kudos: 17





	On the Edge

**Author's Note:**

> i’m re-uploading some of my old fics from tumblr here onto ao3. i know this isn’t my best work and i’m no longer active in this fandom, so let’s just pretend i posted it when i actually wrote it, mkay?

Ari was jumping at shadows and flinching at small noises. Could you really blame him though? Anyone in his position would be.

Anyone with a boyfriend like Dante would be.

Dante was touchy. Ari figured that out the moment he met him. But it wasn’t really a big deal…until now. They were dating now, which meant Dante was one hundred times more touchy than he would be normally, with anyone else. It was both a blessing and a curse.

Ari just wasn’t used to being touched a lot. Especially not in romantic ways. He’d kissed Ileana before, but she was the only person to come before Dante. His mother was affectionate, but not overly so. Gina and Susie never really touched him, as they showed their affection for him in teasing remarks. You could call him touch-starved, though he just hadn’t known he was hungry for it.

Until Dante came along.

Their first kiss was so much different than his kiss with Ileana. It meant something, though they both insisted it didn’t. Ari thought Ileana’s kiss meant something. He had apparently been wrong. The second kiss with Dante was better than the first. And the third and fourth and fifth kisses were all better than the second.

Ari could probably spend the rest of his life kissing Dante.

Kissing was the good part. That didn’t make him jumpy.

The problem was Dante was handsy as well. Not in an inappropriate way, they had discussed that early on and set up their boundaries. Dante never broke those.

No, handsy in the way that he kind of discovered that Ari was, to put it lightly, probably one of the most ticklish people to ever walk the planet.

And boy, was he taking advantage of that.

Every chance Dante got, he seized. Dante was like that. He could be lazy at times, but he never backed down from a fight, and he was always ready to seize the day. Especially when it meant making Ari laugh.

Ari lived his day to day life in constant anticipation of an ambush, jumping at Dante’s sudden movements and small noises.

And he could tell Dante noticed it, and was just relishing in his suffering. Part of him would rather Dante just pounce on him and get it over with already. Or maybe that was all of him. But whatever, that wasn’t the point.

It had been four days since Dante’s last attack, and Ari was jumpier than ever. It was longer than usual, and he knew Dante was only holding back just to surprise him.

“Your reactions are cuter when you aren’t expecting it,” Dante had told him once, making him go red and tell him to shut up.

So yes, he was kind of on edge, because him and Dante were lying beside each other in his bed, and it was the perfect moment for Dante to tickle him, and he wasn’t taking it.

“You’re jumpy today,” Dante observed.

“Am I?”

“Yes. Very, actually. It’s like every time I move you flinch.”

Ari could feel heat rising in his cheeks. He didn’t think it had been so obvious, but then again, Dante could read him like a fucking book by that point.

“Is something wrong?” Dante asked, scooting closer.

“Not exactly,” he replied.

“Are you sure?”

Dante’s hand rested on his knee and Ari twitched under the touch. Dante was smirking now, and Ari realized this had all been an act. He considered bolting, but he didn’t move. He just watched with wide eyes and a quickly growing grin as Dante’s faux-concerned expression faded away. A squeal, yes, a squeal, no other manlier word to describe it, left his mouth as the other boy squeezed the weak spot just above his knee cap.

Part of him was relieved as the laughter came spilling from his lips.

“Is this why you’ve been so jumpy?”

“Yes!”

“That’s adorable.”

“Shut up!”

Dante’s fingers roamed from his knees to his hips and then to his sides and ribs and under his arms and Ari laughed and laughed and laughed.

Yes, relief was one word for it.

Dante always knew when to stop, which Ari was grateful for. He laid back against the bed, breathless and still giggling.

“You’re an asshole, Dante.”

“But you still love me,” he replied with a grin.

“Well…”

Dante raised an eyebrow, raising his hands as if to tickle him again, and Ari laughed and shook his head, bringing his hands up to defend any potential attack.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I do love you, you dork.”

Dante smiled. “I love you too.”

It was only a matter of time until Dante’s tickling fingers struck again, but until then, Ari was content to cuddle up to him and fall asleep.


End file.
